Parent Talk
by rainypromise
Summary: A series of Charlie and Renee's one shots, talking about their daughter and what happens in her life.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Parent Talk

Pairing: Mentions of Jacob/Bella and Edward/Bella

Timeline: Eclipse.

Summary: After Edward/Bella came to Phoenix to meet Renee, Charlie and Renee had a talk.

Author: Rainypromise () Borntobewild13 (Livejournal)

Disclaimer: If I was Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn would never have happened. And I would be _so_ rich, it wouldn't even be funny.

Author Notes: Yes, I have been MIA for a month and should be drawn and quartered. My excuse? One of my books has the chance to be published so I'm busy revising that and meeting with the publisher. Have to cut back 100 pages. Boo Hiss.

Oh, and it's Indonesian. So, you guys wouldn't even get to see it. LOL. But you know, maybe you can wait for TOUCHED, as soon as I get an outside-country publisher to take it on. Searching for publishers in Singapore. Any suggestions?

Anyway, this is something that's been brewing inside my mind for a while and persisted after I've watched Eclipse. Then suddenly, this line (_Well, you should've seen her when she's with Jacob_) and the rest pretty much wrote by itself.

"So?"

Renee squirmed on her seat. She always did when Charlie came after her with his cop voice, even if the effect was filtered by the phone. "So what?"

"You've met…_him_. What do you think?"

Renee smiled at the gruff tone in his voice. "He's…very handsome. A little pale, I tried to get him to get out in the sun for a bit but…"

"I wasn't talking about his looks, Renee."

She doodled on a notepad and found the to-do list she was searching for last week. "He's quiet and polite. He's very mature for his age."

A soft snort came out of the line. "You don't like him."

'I didn't say that. And don't you tell Bella that."

"Admit it, you don't like him."

"I don't _don't_ like him, he's just…different. He's very…"

"Staid."

"No."

"Boring."

"No! Charlie Swan, don't put words in my mouth."

"He's not the person you would've chosen for Bella. He's exactly the type of person _you_ would've avoided."

"Well, Bella's not me. She's more like you actually."

"And I married you. Case and point."

Renee sighed. "All right, yes, he's nowhere near the person I'd imagine she would end up with. I imagined someone more…"

"Less morose?"

"Morose? Charlie, have you been reading again?"

"Got it off a new words-a-day calendar, ma'am."

Renee snorted, she'd always enjoyed Charlie's wry humor and the way he'd used the small town cop drawl to his advantage. A lot of people tripped over his wily used of the stereotype and practically confessed to his face.

"And yes, I am less_ morose_…but we got divorced, remember?"

He made a low sound at the back of his throat and Renee was worried that they would fall back into an old argument (_I didn't want to get divorced, you left me, remember?)._ But all Charlie said was, "They're too young to marry."

"And who is talking about marriage?" Her eyebrows rose up to disappear at her hairline, but she knew why Charlie brought up marriage. Something about how Edward and Bella was with each other. "What can we do? You know how stubborn she gets. At least she _would be_ getting married before…you know."

Quiet settled over the telephone lines.

"He is…different. They're very…" Renee frowned. "She's different when she's around him. She would be Bella when she's with me but once she's around him…"

He was so quiet, she thought Charlie had hung up on her or something but before she could make sure she heard a sound; Charlie shifting on his chair. "Yeah, well. You should see her when she's with Jacob."

Jacob. That's a name that she hadn't heart in a while. Everytime she tried to bring him up in a conversation, Bella had looked away and ignored her attempts. "Would I like him?"

"You'd love him." Charlie's voice warmed and she could practically see his smile. It was obvious he'd much prefer Jacob over Edward. "She's different when she's around him, too."

"In what way?"

"She's lighter. Has more fun. Laughs more. They fight a lot but one or the other always slinks back to make up."

Renee laughed. "From what Bella told me about him, he sounds amazing."

"He is. He's a good kid."

A good kid, high praise coming from Charlie. Honestly, when Renee read all the emails about Jacob, she had hoped…but then somehow the emails about Jacob stopped. And emails about Edward came. She didn't really know what to think.

"She loves him too, you know."

_I have a best friend, mom. His name is Jacob. He's Billy Black's son and sort of Charlie's adopted son. He's amazing. I wish you could meet him. He always makes me feel better…he makes Forks feel like home. He makes me feel…that it's okay to be me. _

_Just me._

"Yeah. Yeah, I could tell."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Parent Talk

Pairing: Mentions of Jacob/Bella and Edward/Bella

Timeline: Eclipse.

Summary: Somewhere along the lines of Jacob kissing Bella and her graduation party.

Author: Rainypromise (ff) Borntobewild13 (Livejournal)

Disclaimer: If I was Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn would never have happened. And I would be _so_ rich, it wouldn't even be funny.

"What?" Her knees week, Renee sat down carefully.

Charlie's gruff voice eased out of the phone and reached her ear. "Bella broke her hand. Well, more like sprained it."

"_How_?"

"Yeah, that." She could almost see him tipping back his chair and scratching his head. "She hit something. Intentionally."

"She hit something? Intentionally?" That didn't sound like Bella. "Hit _what_?"

"Jacob's face."

She could almost hear a hint of humor in his voice and she couldn't understand what was so funny about it because she was shocked. "She hit _Jacob_?"

"More like punched him."

"And punching Jacob broke her hand?"

"Sprained it." He corrected. "I've always known the kid had a hard head but I didn't know it was _that_ hard."

"Charlie Swan, are you _laughing_?"

She pictured him shrugging and aiming a grin at her. "Well, it is kind of funny."

"It's _not_ funny. Our daughter broke her hand assaulting her best friend. What's so funny about that? Besides, why did she punch Jacob?"

Charlie coughed and muttered something.

"What?"

"He kissed her."

Renee's jaw dropped. It took her a moment to find her voice. "Jacob kissed Bella? Since she hit him, I'm assuming _without_ her permission?"

"Yeah."

"And what did you do about it?"

"I sat him down, threatened him a little. Made him promise not to do it again." He paused. "Made him clean my gun."

Renee rolled her eyes. "And?"

"And _what_?"

"Charlie, he kissed our daughter without her permission."

"He's young. He's a kid. He's embarrassed enough already. You should've seen him when I showed up. And when I asked what was wrong, he fessed up. You gotta admit it took some balls to admit that to a father, especially when said father owns a variety of guns and just happens to be the Chief of Police." He paused as he spoke to someone. "_ And_ your father's best friend."

"If this wasn't Jacob you would have to arrest yourself for murder. At least admit that."

"The boy got his wires crossed. He knows that now."

"Is Bella all right?"

"He gave her a graduation present and she's wearing it and never takes it off so I guess they made up. I told you, they don't stay mad at each other for long."

"Huh." She went to the kitchen and got herself a can of soda. "Does Edward know?"

"I had to break those to up before they start something right in front of the house."

Renee reached for a bag of cookies. "How mad was he?"

"You remembered when I punched Matt Riley when he tried to grope you at the office Christmas party?"

"How could I? You knocked off three of his teeth. I think he swallowed one of them."

"Yeah, well." Renee could almost see him getting all puffed up in his uniform. Men. "Anyway, if I didn't come along, it would probably end up just like that."

She tried to imagine the pale, slim, quiet Edward throwing a punch. "Do you really think Edward would do that?"

Renee jerked in her seat when Charlie burst out laughing. "What?"

"I was more worried about Jacob throwing the punch rather than _Edward_. You should see the size of this kid. Here, I'll send you a picture."

Renee picked up her laptop and opened her email. She clicked on the email titled: Sunday morning at the Blacks.

The first thing she saw was Bella's glowing face. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks were flushed, her smile was wide and her head was tossed up as whoever took the picture caught her when she was laughing. She was holding up a plate of spaghetti over her head while several hands, each holding a fork, appeared from every corner of the picture, heading for her plate.

Renee felt her lips twitched into a smile and the smile changed into bemusement when she saw that Bella was leaning against a wide shouldered, grinning man with dark longish hair, dark deep eyes and gorgeous colored skin.

"Is that—is that Jacob? The one she's leaning against." She spoke into the phone.

"Yup. Big, huh? You understand why I worried about him taking a punch at the Cullen boy."

"He looked like he's in his twenties."

"All his friends are just as big. I swear, there's something in the water back at the reservation."

Renee couldn't take her eyes off her daughter and the boy-man-boy beside her. She looked so comfortable with him, as if she was use to their close proximity, surprising since Bella wasn't the touchy feely type. They were sitting on a blue plastic tarp on the ground with their legs tangled up together and their feet bare. One of his large hands was on her waist, steadying her, while the other was outstretched over their heads as if he was protecting Bella (or her plate) from the fork-wielding hands. The scene looked fun and homey and …

"You're right."

"Of course, I am." He waited a beat. "About what exactly?"

"She's different with him, too." _But in a good way._


End file.
